Visual arts faculty to display work in Wilson Gallery
FOR RELEASE: Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Huntington, Ind.-The Huntington University Department of Visual Arts faculty will showcase its talents through an exhibit in the Robert E. Wilson Gallery, beginning Oct. 6 through Nov. 3. An artist reception will be held for Ken Hopper, Andy Dickson and Rebecca Coffman from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 12 in the gallery, located in Huntington's Merillat Centre for the Arts. This is a change from information printed in the Merillat Centre for the Arts 2006-2007 season brochure.
Ken Hopper, assistant professor of art, spent his spring semester sabbatical creating art on computer, canvas, masonite, and paper with a wide range of media.
"I produced more work in those 15 weeks than I've been able to produce in the past decade and feel I got back to my roots as an artist," he said. "I like to paint living things, people and dogs especially, but I tried branching out to some landscape work, too."
Hopper also spent time working on illustrations with a group called drawergeeks.com, which gave him biweekly assignments.
Assistant Professor of Art Andy Dickson's work is focused on the natural landscape painted directly from life.
"Whenever I sense a strong feeling while at a particular location, I am compelled as an artist to explore it with intensity and conviction," he said. "Painting from life allows me to establish a clear connection with my subject in order to discover and articulate its complex structures and color relationships, so that I might convey a sense of my particular visual experience to the viewer."
Rebecca Coffman, professor of art, chose to create bowls and vessels, primarily made of porcelain clay and reduction fired.
"The bowl is a simple, hollow hemisphere, which I am able to express with subtle variations and nuances," she said. "It can be functional or purely decorative. The cup is also a simple form. The cup is the most intimate of vessel forms. It is designed to be held. Both the bowl and the cup have form, volume, texture and color."
The Wilson Gallery is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., before and after all Merillat Centre performances, and by appointment. For further information, contact gallery director Rebecca Coffman at (260) 359-4272 or rcoffman@huntington.edu.
